Record Description

The records include an index and images of taxation records as recorded with the County Auditor of each county. Entries are recorded in voucher books, one person per page. Included are the following Ohio counties:

Ashtabula

Belmont

Carroll

Columbiana

Guernsey

Harrison

Jackson

Jefferson

Monroe

Trumbull

Washington

Governments created tax records that vary in content according to the purpose of the assessment. Most are based on personal property, real estate, and income. There may be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. Numerous families lived in Ohio and owned taxable property.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

The records in this collection cover the years 1800 to 1850. However, the majority are from the years 1816 through 1838.

Tax records are based on the property owned by people. Only the person who owned the taxable property was listed on the tax record; other residents, living on the property, were not listed.

Tax records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the county clerk in the local courthouse, who usually recorded the event at or very near the time it occurred.

The information given in town land records is generally reliable, although there may be errors made in transcribing the town’s copy from the original deed.

Citation for This Collection

The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

How to Use the Record

Tax records are usually used to supplement census records. Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index to the assessments. It is helpful to know the following information:

Name

Residence

Time period

Use the locator information in the index (such as page number or assessment number) to locate your ancestors in the assessment rolls. Some on-line indexes, such as indexes to FamilySearch Historical Records, will take you directly to an image. Compare the information in the assessment to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

When you have located your ancestor in the assessment rolls, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may be new details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

For example:

Tax assessments identify the name and residence of the taxpayer. This information can help you locate land records and census records.

The description of the real estate, number of acres owned, types of buildings, identifiable personal property, and the farm animals can help you determine an occupation: someone living at a church is probably a minister; someone with several acres of land or many farm animals is probably a farmer; someone living on the same property as the school may be a teacher; someone living above or behind a store is probably a merchant.

Known occupations can lead you to other types of records such as employment, school, or church records.

Following an ancestor through the assessment rolls can help you establish a family migration pattern or identify the year an individual moved into an area or left the area.

The assessment rolls can also indicate that an individual died. Use the last known tax year as an approximate death year. Use the death year and residence to locate death or probate records.

Some other tips to keep in mind are:

It is often helpful to extract the information on all individuals with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related.

Other family members may have lived nearby so you may want to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even a county.

Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the assessment rolls.

Known Issues with This Collection

For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to support@familysearch.org. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

Related Wiki Articles

Contributions to This Article

We welcome user additions to FamilySearch Historical Records wiki articles. Guidelines are available to help you make changes. Thank you for any contributions you may provide. If you would like to get more involved join the WikiProject FamilySearch Records.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections

When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.